Strawberry: Mets ‘Just Let Me Walk Away’ : Baseball: The newest Dodger blames his old team for not offering him a better contract. But a New York official insists the club will prosper without the outfielder.

Darryl Strawberry said today the New York Mets never made him a significant offer and “just let me walk away” to sign a five-year, $20.3-million contract with the Dodgers.

“It’s seemed like we were making no progress with the Mets, who were my first choice,” Strawberry said. “It’s tough to make a change, but they left me no choice but to make the change.”

“It hurts me a lot to walk away from players I’ve had a relationship with for so long. Eventually, I’ll get over it,” he told WFAN radio in New York.

Strawberry, who agreed to the Dodgers’ terms Wednesday night, confirmed the numbers involved in the deal during a telephone interview with the Associated Press. He said the Mets offered $15 million over four years.

“The Mets called three to four days ago and said, ‘This is the best offer,’ ” he said.

Mets General Manager Frank Cashen wished Strawberry well but dismissed his loss and said the team would be even better without him in a couple of years.

Strawberry, who batted .277 last season with 37 homers and a club-record 108 RBIs, made $1.8 million this year. In July, he rejected a Mets offer for slightly more than $9 million over three years.

The seven-time All-Star, in the prime of his career at age 28, was seeking a contract similar to Jose Canseco’s five-year, $23.5-million deal with the Oakland Athletics.

Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz said: “The New York Mets made Darryl an offer, but he wanted to go back home. We knew the Dodgers posed a serious threat.”

Strawberry, however, said he would have stayed in New York had the Mets made what he considered to be a serious offer.

“They never called and talked to me,” he said. “It was like they were waiting for me to call them, which I wouldn’t do.

“They never made any offer like they were interested in me. It was a choice the Mets had to make and it shows me it wasn’t in their interest. I can’t understand it. They just let me walk away.”

Cashen said that while the Mets will have to rebuild their outfield, losing Strawberry is not devastating.

“I don’t say that you can replace that kind of talent overnight, but I think that we have enough resources to win without Darryl,” he said, “and I think we have a chance to even be a better team and organization within a couple of years than we were with him.”

“Darryl is one of the premier players in baseball and we welcome him to our organization,” Vice President Fred Claire said.

Putting Strawberry in center field would allow the Dodgers to keep Kal Daniels in left field and Hubie Brooks in right. Kirk Gibson, the team’s center fielder, has filed for free agency.

Strawberry “will definitely be in the Dodger lineup, but we’ll have decisions to make as far as position,” Claire said.